U.S. Judge Blasts Bill to Revamp Surveillance

WASHINGTON—A federal judge slammed a new surveillance-overhaul bill backed by the White House and civil-liberties groups that would establish a privacy advocate for the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in addition to curbing data collection on Americans.

Judge John Bates, a federal district-court judge who has served on the secret national-security court, said in a letter that the legislation's proposals for the...